I learned only this year that when leaves change color, their essential color is emerging, revealed by a decline in chlorophyll production. There is something deeply gratifying about that. These gold-red fields, this final radiance, are gentle words from an autumn goddess: "Let go. Don't cling, don't worry, stop concentrating, stop trying. Let go, for a moment, and see things as they are and must be. Are they not beautiful?"

Photos from trips to the blueberry barrens earlier this week, in this set.